Jake Wallis Simons (@JakeWSimons) is a Telegraph features writer, novelist and broadcaster. His website is jakewallissimons.com. Follow him on Facebook here and on Twitter here. His fourth novel, Jam, which is set in a traffic jam on the M25, is out now.

After David and Alex Cameron, here's my Top Ten embarrassing political siblings…

David Cameron is pink-faced at the best of times. But when his older brother, Alex, successfully argued that Dave’s legal aid cuts had created a dearth of competent defence barristers – thus causing the collapse of a £5 million fraud case – the Prime Minister must have blushed like a microwaved gammon.

Embarrassing siblings, eh. Many of us have them. But when one assumes public office, their capacity for dampening one’s squib is magnified to monstrous proportions.

Here, for the delectation of schadenfreude enthusiasts everywhere, is the Telegraph’s list of top ten embarrassing political siblings. Oh, how we laugh.

David and Alex Cameron

For decades, Alex has been a thorn in his younger brother’s side. It all goes back to Eton: Alex was a member of Pop, but David didn’t make the grade. (Boris Johnson famously quipped in an after-dinner speech that those who weren’t elected to Pop were sometimes so affected by the rejection that they just had to become Prime Minister.)

Speaking to the Big Issue in 2011, the Prime Minister admitted that he “lived in the shadow of my older brother”, who was a “huge success” on the sports field and “almost always lead actor” in school plays.

For instance, in 1974, when David was seven and Alex 10, both brothers appeared in a school production of Toad of Toad Hall. In the audience were the Queen and Prince Philip, who had come to see Prince Edward, then 11, play the part of Mole. According to the Daily Mail, Alex had clinched “the coveted role of Rat”. David, on the other hand, was made to play “Harold Rabbit”.

Top moment: It’s got to be the Harold Rabbit one (Harold Rabbit!).

Ed and David Miliband

The big question here, of course, is which brother is the more embarrassing? It’s a close-run thing. While David has shunned his brother’s advances and flounced off to the United States in a sulk, Ed has tried to exhume Seventies Socialism while walking around in leaky wellies.

When the brothers were running head-to-head in 2010, journalists asked both separately for “lessons they remember taking from their parents”. Ed recalled that his mother used to whisper to him at bed-time, “Are you a boy to go tiger-shooting with?” And David? “Unconditional love.”

Top moment: That. Awful. Cuddle.

Gordon and Andrew Brown

For those of us anti-fans, 2009 was a bumper year. Not only was there much entertainment as the then Prime Minister walked into the wrong rooms and was caught on camera giving false smiles, but his brother Andrew raised his ugly head.

The Telegraph revealed that Gordon had paid Andrew more than £6,000 for “cleaning services” over the course of two years, and reclaimed the money from the taxpayer. As regular readers will recall, there were no allegations that Andrew received any improper benefit from his brother’s expense claim. The money was duly paid to their shared cleaner for services rendered to Gordon and his wife.

Top moment: When Brown was voted out. Sorry.

Bill and Roger Clinton

This guy was a classic embarrassing sibling (half-sibling, to be precise). In fact, when Bill was in office, Roger was codenamed “headache” by the Secret Service, because he had a talent for causing trouble. In 2001, Bill was even forced to issue an official pardon to his brother for a 1985 drugs offence, for which he had been imprisoned for a year. How many baseball cards must that have cost him?

Top moment: In December 1999, Roger Clinton and his band played a gig in the North Korean capital, Pyonyang. Now that must have gone down well.

Jimmy and Billy Carter

Imagine the most embarrassing presidential brother you can. Got it? Chances are, your mental image will be pretty close to Billy Carter, Jimmy’s little brother. He created a ridiculous brand of beer called Billy Beer, which was a spectacular failure and forced him to sell his house to pay outstanding taxes. He also had a somewhat eccentric personal manner. But this is comprehensively eclipsed by his disastrous agreement to spy for Libya, an episode that became known as “Billygate” and that forced a public Presidential statement.

Top moment: The time Billy urinated on an airport runway in front of the press and dignitaries. He is also famous for declaring, “I’m the only sane one in the family”.

Hillary Clinton and her brothers, Hugh and Tony Rodham

These brothers had a habit of trading on the Presidential connection for their own financial advantage. The most bizarre moment came in 1999, when they embarked upon a $118 million project to import hazelnuts from the Republic of Georgia. Their business contact turned out to be Aslan Abashidze, who was an opponent of the president Eduard Shevardnadze, an important ally of the United States. One White House official recalled that “you never wanted to hear their name come up in any context other than playing golf”.

Top moment: In 1999, Tony Rodham flew to Roe to become godfather to the grandson of Aslan Abashidze, an opponent of a US ally.

John Major and Terry Major-Ball

Terry was, above all, a comical character. After his military service, he attempted to run his father’s business, Major’s Garden Ornaments, but was unsuccessful (it was bought out in 1962). Together with a ghost writer, he wrote an autobiography called Major Major: Memories of an Older Brother, which was praised as a comedy masterwork. In 1993, he opened a garden gnome festival in New Zealand.

Top moment: When he loyally kept his knowledge of John Major’s affair with Edwina Currie secret.

George and Theo Osborne

The Chancellor’s little brother is a hugely wealthy, well-connected, sophisticated, ultra-cool, well-dressed and suave gentleman. In a not-at-all-excruciating interview with the Evening Standard last month, he revealed as much, as well as spilling the beans all about his luxury travel business. “They’ve just opened a Fabergé exhibition in St Petersburg you can’t get into without permission from the Kremlin,” he said, simultaneously showcasing his modestly. “That’s something we can organise.”

Top moment: When Theo was snapped by the Daily Mail on a luxury yacht in 2010, prompting obvious comparisons with his brother.

George W and Neil Bush

When Neil divorced his wife, Sharon, in 2003, salacious details began to emerge about his liaisons with prostitutes in Hong Kong and Thailand (he claimed that no money changed hands). Neil Bush wins the prize for a double whammy: he also managed to embarrass his father, George Bush, when during his time in office, the $1 billion savings and loan company that Neil directed collapsed. He and other defendants were lumped with a $49.5 million bill to settle claims of negligence.

Top moment: Neil’s friend, John Spalding, testified in Neil’s divorce hearing that his wife had taken hair samples from Neil in order to curse him using voodoo.

Richard and Donald Nixon

In 1971, “Big Don” was trying to capture intelligence for Richard that would give him the edge in the presidential election. However, he ended up being fed false information by a man called John H Meier, and duly passed it on to his brother.

Top moment: When he was able to keep his drive-through restaurant, “Nixon’s”, afloat after taking a loan for $205,000 from the American magnate Howard Hughes. The business went bust a year later, and questions were asked about Mr Hughes’ motivations in getting close to Richard Nixon’s brother.